Orin parker



(No Model.) O. PARKER.

. REPRIGERATING APBARATUS.- No. 265,627. .wanted aguila-188.2.

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ATTORNEYS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ORIN PARKER, OF VVASHING'ION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 265,627, dated October 10, 1882, l Application filed January 11,1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORIN PARKER, of Washington city, in the District of Columbia, have invented anew and Improved Refrigerating Apparatus; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear,and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompany-ing drawing, forming part of this specitication,in which the iigure is a sectional view of the apparatus. n

Myinvention relates to an improved method and apparatus for making ice and refrigerating in general.V It partakes to some extent of the character of two other previous inventions for which I made application for Letters Patent July 3l, 1881and November 21, 1881, which applications were allowed respectively September 14, 1881, and November 29, 1881, and in which the production of cold was effected by the compression of ,air by a hydraulic air-compressor, which air after being cooled was then allowed to expand in the freezing-room to reduce the temperature ofthe latter. This invention is really supplementary to the others, and important in utilizing those processes to their full value. In the'processes there described the useful effect was due only to and limited by the difference in capacity of air for heat under constantpressure and ataconstant volume about .07 of a heat-unit per pound for each degree. By supplementing these processes by the present invention not only is this diifl'erence in specific heat utilized, but also a reduction in temperature is attained, and consequently a capacity for abstracting heat-units equivalent to the work done,according to wellknown thermodynamic laws. In my present invent-ion I interpose in the path of the compressed air as it comes from the compressor or holder an expansion'cylinder with pistou and cut-olil valves, through which the compressed and cooled airis expanded just beforeit passes into the freezing-room, so that this compressed air in expanding through this cylinder exerts a power before passing into the refrigerator that is used to drive another volume of compressed air into the holder.

My process, then, in general terms, consists in utilizing during expansion the motive energy of an expansible iluid under compression at low temperature for the purpose of com pressing another volume ot' expansible duid to be used expansively for the same purpose of producing cold.

My invention also consists in various other improvements in matters of detailed construction, as will be hereinafter fully described, and pointed out-in the claims.

4 In the drawing, A represents my hydraulic air-compressor, which is described in my rst said application for patent led July 31,1881. This hydraulic compressor takes water from au elevated head, B, and the air is compressed in A by the direct contact and dynamic force of the water. The air from this compressor', more or less heated by compression, passes then through pipefa to the holder and coolen C, which is in the nature of a long hollow col- V umn closed at the top and openat the bottom,

.with a larger diameten that its'in the well or tank D, in which it moves up and down. This well is supplied with Water through the pipe b coming from the head, which water serves to cool the air in'the holder, and as fast as this said water becomes Warm it is allowed to flow olf(` at the top; Both the inlet-connection for the air to the hoider on the side next to the compressor and also the connections on the othersidea-re made bymeansof'tlexible sections ot' pipe, so that the holder may move freely up and down in the well. As theair passes into the holder in intermittent charges from the compressor this movement of the holder compensates for such spasmodic action, and makes the issuance of air from the holder continuous and uniform. As the air leaves the holder C more or less cooled it passes through the pipe c to the coils d over' the freezing-room, which coils are immersed in pans which are kept lilled with water, and by' the evaporation of which water by the dry cold air leaving the freezing-room the air in this coil is further chilled, and the energy of the waste air from the freezing-room thus conserved, as described more fully in thc application for patent tiled November 21,1881, before referred to. The air taken through this coil then passes down pipe c,`\vhich, like pipe c, is embedded in the non-conducting packing` ot' the walls of the freezing-room, and after traversing the pipe enters the tank E.' This tank has a huilde-plate, j', and acts as a trap to -collect the condensed moisture, and has also IOO another function, as will be hereinafter described. The cooled and compressed air then passes from tank E through pipe g to a doubleactin gexpansion-cylinder, F, which is provided with a piston and suitable cut-oft` valves, which piston is worked by the expansion ofthe cooled air, which escapes thence through exhaustpipe h into the freezing-room, where the cold is produced by the dissipation ot' the heatunits contained in said air, due to the expansion taking place in the cylinder. The power exerted upon the piston. of cylinder F by the expansion of the air therein I make to run another air-compressor, Gr, which consists `ot" a smaller cylinder with a piston arranged on the same rod with the piston ot' cylinder I. A ily-wheel, H, is connected by a crank and pitman with the common piston-rod, so as to render the action ot' the device smooth and uniform. The air is taken into the dryair compressor G through inlet-valves il i, and is forced out through outlet-valvesjj into a pipe, 7c, which enters-a shallow tank, Land is perforated, and which perforated end is submerged in the water contained in said tank, so that the air in escaping through the perforations of the pipe 7c is made to rise through the water in tine streams or bubbles, which permits the heat developed by the compression of the air to be eliminated and carried ott by the water in said tank. The air from this tank then escapes through pipe l and passes through a exible section into the main compressedair holder. It will thus be seen, from the operation described, that the compressed air in passing to the freezing-room utilizes, by expanson in a cylinder, a part ot' its energy to compress other volumes ot' air and increase the volume of air in the' holder, and then escapes and is further expanded into the freezing-room to secure useful eftectin refrigerating. As regards this part of my invention, it will be seen that the invention is not necessarily limited to air as a medium, but any expansible fluid, whether a fixed gassuch as air-l-or a volatile liquid-such as ammoniamight be used with the same advantageous results.

In order to economize temperature and preserve the efiiciency of the apparatus, water is forced into the tank E by a force-pump connected at m, and the water forced in passes out through pipe a to a water-jacket, o, around the expansion-cylinder, whence it passes through pipe p to the spray-nozzles q in the freezingroom, and which water is allowed to fall in spray and freeze into ice in a tank in the bottom part of the freezing-room. The additional function of the tank E will here become apparent, for it will be seen that the water ot' condensation from the air is carried into the freezing-chamber to lie frozen into ice, and the upper portion of tank E acts as an air-cushion to make the water enter the freezing-room under pressure and in a uniform flow. Passing this water also around the expansion-cylinder has a doubly usel'ul ett'ect: trst, to utilize the cold produced by the expansion otl the air in this cylinder to chill the water that is to be made into ice, and, secondly, to prevent this cylinder from becoming choked with congealed moisture inside. An independent stream ot' water is also made to circulate around the jacket of the dry-air compressor and escapes through a trap-pipe, o", into thc shallonT tank I, whence it escapes and runs ot't' through a oat-valve, s. The purpose of this latter circulation ot' water is simply to remove the developed heat from the air compressed by the dry-air compressor.

Instead ot' using ahydraulic air-compressor for furnishing the initial power, any other form` of air-compressor may be used.

In delining my invention more clearly, I would state that I am aware of the fact that a given body ot' air circulating in a cycle has been compressed, its heat eliminated, and then expanded in a cylinder for the double purpose of creating cold and performing mechanical work to assist the compression of the same body ot' air at another part of the cycle, and I do not claim this broadly. In such operations, however, high pressures are used, which involves expensivemachinery, anda greater uumber ot' heat-abstractors are required. vMy invention differs from others in that the expansion of a given bodyot' cooled and compressed air is made, not to compress the same air, but to compress another body of air which is delivered back to the air-holder, where it mingles with and increases the bulk and is then cooled and expanded. My invention does not work in cycles upon the same body of air, but only uses the same air once and then allows it to escape. Instead, therefore, ot' using a limited body of air in endless circulation andhigh pressure, I use a large body ot' air and low pressure, with but one passage through the machine, thus enabling me to employ less expensive mechanism and still utilizing perfectly the differential eit'ect of compression, abstraction ot' heat, and expansion to produce the required cold.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new isl. The process of refrigeration which consists in utilizing, during cold-expansion, the

motive energy ot' compressed air of low tem` perature for the purpose of compressing another independent body ofair, then conducting this independent body of air to that part of the main body ot' compressed air and allowing them to become cooled together and expand to produce the same work ot' compressing more new air and then escape, as described.

2. The combination, with a compressed-air holder and a pipe connecting the same with the freezing-room, of an expansion-engine, sub stantially as described, placed in the path of the compressed air to the freezing-room for utilizing the motive energy ot' the compressed air in expanding, and a supplemental air-compressor connected to' said expansion-engine IOO IOS

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and also to the air-holder, and havinginletvalves for external air, and an outlet-connection to the holder of the main bulk of air for augmenting the bulk of compressed air at the expense ot its expansible energy, as and for the purpose described.

3. The trap-tank E, combined with the compressed-air pipe, and the expansion-engine, as and for the purpose described.

4. The combinatiomwith an air-compressor. of the air holder and cooler, consisting of well I) and elongated hollow column C, closed at the top and open at the bottom,- and provided with exible connection, as shown and described.

5. The combination of the dry-air compressor, having a Water-jacket, the shallow tank I of the perforated exhaust-pipe k entering` the shallow tank, and the trap-pipe i', effecting a water communication between the water-jack et of the air-compressor and the shallow tank, as and for the purpose described.

6. The combination, with the expansioirair engine having a water-jacket, of a set of airpipes connecting with the airengine cylinder and communicating with the freezingchamber, and a set of water-pipes connecting with the water-jacket and communicating with the freezing-chamber,` substantially as and for the purpose described.

ORIN PARKER.

Witnesses:

EDWD. W. BYRN, G. W. HAY. 

